High Court imposes new sentencing framework for NS defaulters
Those who evade National Service (NS) for two years or more will face jail terms of between two months and three years depending on the length of their default period.
This new sentencing framework was set forth by the High Court in a written judgment on Tuesday (25 July) in the case of three NS defaulters, according to media reports.
The three-judge panel – comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Justice See Kee Oon – that issued the grounds for decision laid out four tiers of punishment, which vary in severity according to the length of default period:
Those who evade NS for two to six years will face a minimum jail sentence of between two to four months;
Those who evade NS for seven to 10 years will face a minimum jail sentence of between five to eight months;
Those who evade NS for 11 to 16 years will face a minimum jail sentence of 14 to 22 months
Those who evade NS for 17 or more will face a minimum jail sentence of two to three years
In April, the judges had granted the prosecution’s appeal for heavier sentences to be imposed on NS defaulters Ang Lee Thye, 43, along with brothers Sakthikanesh Chidambaram, 26, and Vandana Kumar Chidambaram, 23.
Ang, who had evaded NS for 23 and a half years, saw his two-year jail sentence raised to two years and nine months. Sakthikanesh, who dodged NS for five and a half years, had his jail term increased to 10 weeks from three weeks, while Vandana Kumar, who evaded NS for over three years, saw his punishment raised from a $6,000 fine to seven weeks’ jail.
The judges said that, in general, those who evade NS for more than two years would face custodial sentences as they would only begin serving their full-time NS after their peers had completed their own obligations. This detracts from the principal of equity, which requires those who are liable for NS to serve at around the same age so that they will bear the interruptions at similar stages of their lives.
The court added that the statutory three-year maximum jail sentence for those whose default period was 23 years or more should be the starting point for this “worst category” of NS defaulters as they would have dodged not only their full-time NS obligations but their reservist duties as well.
Additionally, the rate of increase in sentencing should be amplified in accordance with longer periods of default in order to discourage NS defaulters from delaying their return to Singapore to face the music.
The court also noted that there should be a spike in the sentences imposed on those whose default period exceeds 10 years, as such defaulters would likely be unable to complete their reservist obligations before reaching the statutory age of 40.
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